In an increasingly wired, interactive world, a great many people have become concerned about the privacy issues that arise when casual Internet searches have a market value assigned to them, primarily from though not limited to marketers and advertisers looking to assemble a profile on the habits and preferences of individual browsers.
The concern for many is that marketers are packaging insights gleaned from the tracking of IP addresses in order to assemble profiles on individuals who are wary of being tracked. In the blogosphere, writers who wish to provide anonymous political commentary may feel threatened and inhibited in an environment where their identity can be guessed at and, even theoretically, where an inventory of their personal preferences and intellectual interests can be compiled for use in government or corporate databases.
To address just some of these concerns, an industry has arisen to provide a semblance of anonymity for those concerned with maintaining their existing rights to privacy while online. The consumer market that looks to this industry for privacy protection is one that values the right to anonymous free expression, even when such expression is expressed in social forums. Bloggers who wish to express political dissent, or to raise controversial ideas, in a public context may wish to be known by a pseudonym or online tag rather than by their true identity. To provide an added layer of online anonymity, they would require the use of a service that masks their true Internet Protocol (IP) address, which not only operates to shield their true identity, but can also be used to mask their true location. This is a valuable factor for those looking to frustrate the efforts of those interested in packaging (often for commercial and data-mining purposes) a comprehensive profile of online commentators, buyers, and casual browsers.
The market demand for online privacy has grown tremendously over the years, offering comprehensive anonymity solutions for those who do not want their search preferences, content streaming decisions, online social interactions, and uploading activities to be compiled by reference to an IP address that can be matched with their identity and other demographic details.
As an example, Virtual Private Networks can be used to mask one's IP address across the full expanse of one's online search activities, offering IP address anonymity in places where identification of the originating IP address is not required. However, in some situations, the IP address cannot be anonymous for various reasons such as security. For instance, a pseudonymous blogger, who does not wish their content-streaming and downloading choices to be tracked and compiled with their IP address, may nevertheless require their IP address to be unmasked when engaging in important online activities that are necessarily linked to their true identity such as online banking. An attempt to access an online account through a masked IP address can raise a red flag with the banking institution. A masked IP address, pointing to a location other than the one normally identified with a known area of residence may prompt the bank to automatically block access to the account on suspicion that an attempt at fraud is being perpetrated from a remote location. In such circumstances, masking of an IP address for one desired online activity will frustrate another desired online activity.
For example, the overall masking of their IP address can be disabled, thereby rendering the originating IP address identifiable, enabling online access to their bank account. However, one must be mindful to once again “switch on” the functionality for those online activities for which they desire anonymity. In practice, the user must constantly keep track in their head as to their status, continually being mindful as to whether they've taken care to “switch on” or “switch off” their masking functionality in accordance with their particular online needs, for each and every site they visit.
In addition, masking can slow down the downloading time for certain sites that detect IP addresses for the purposes of optimally select a source for delivering content sourced from more than one location. In short, masking can frustrate the optimal use of content delivery networks. For instance, where a Canadian client is proxied on an American server, the effect is that a content provider might deliver content from the more remote American location, even though the more optimal solution could have been for the content provider to deliver content from the Canadian location. As a result, the masking functionality provides for a slower downloading experience.
Furthermore, the typical consumer of masking services often does not require, or desire, masking every site they might browse. Again, unless the consumer is mindful to turn off the functionality for those sites where they do not desire to mask their IP address, the consumer will be faced with slower loading time for such web pages, as they are unnecessarily proxied through an outside server rather than directly through their internet service provider. In turn, such consumers place a greater comparative “load” on the proxy servers used by their service. In effect, this unnecessary excess use of masking services by a critical mass of consumers can cause the servers providing the masking functionality to significantly slow the loading of pages for everyone using the service. Accordingly, the service would have to sustain significantly more costs in ensuring sufficient server capacity leading to increased server costs.
On the other hand, those consumers who are mindful enough to switch off the functionality may very well have their page loading speed restored to its optimal level, yet they may continue to suffer significantly slower page loadings when restoring the functionality for those sites where such functionality is desired. Under such circumstances, the service's servers may be chronically overloaded due to the browsing habits of the less technically savvy portion of the customer base, who may be unknowingly, and unnecessarily, employing the masking services across the full expanse of their web browsing activities, negatively affecting the optimal use of the functionality for all.